You have a seven pound block of gold.  You must pay your worker one
pound of gold each day for the next seven days.  How can you achieve
your goal by making exactly two cuts of the gold bar?

see http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=443458
(By the way this is not statistics)

This is really too easy.

Two cuts of the bar create three pieces.  First cut off 1 pound.  Of
the 6 pounds that remain cut off 2 pounds.  That leaves 4 pounds.  So
you have 1, 2, and 4 pound bars of gold.

Day 1:  Pay 1 pound.
Day 2:  Pay 2 pounds and get 1 pound back in change.
Day 3:  Pay 1 pound.
Day 4:  Pay 4 pounds and get 1 and 2 pounds back in change.
Day 5:  Pay 1 pound.
Day 6:  Pay 2 pounds and get 1 pound back in change.
Day 7:  Pay 1 pound.

Same way you do the silver.  In this case, however, the worker is
clearly overpaid.   Just keep the gold; pay him with the silver.